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Rare Books and Manuscripts

The Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, located just down the street from the Yale School of Music, is one of the world’s largest libraries devoted entirely to rare books and manuscripts. Opened to the public in 1963, it has become Yale’s principal repository for literary archives, early manuscripts, and rare books.

The Beinecke Library’s robust collections are used by researchers from around the world to create new scholarship. There are numerous documents related to music, including manuscripts by Pergolesi, Mozart, Schubert, Berlioz, Wagner, Brahms, and many more. Yale has the most significant Massenet collection outside of France and the nearly complete musical archive of William Walton. The library has Debussy’s complete piano manuscript of Pelléas and the manuscript of Jeux. Read more about what you can find in the Beinecke: